David Pitcairn
(1749-1809)
BIRTH
May 1, 1749
PLACE
Fife, Scotland
DEATH
April 17, 1809
PLACE
London, England
FAMILY
FATHER
John Pitcairn
(1722-1775)
BROTHER
Clerke Pitcairn
(1750-1780)
BROTHER
Robert Pitcairn (midshipman)
(1752-c. 1770)
SISTER
Janet Pitcairn
(18th Century-?)
SISTER
Johanna Pitcairn
(d. 1830)
CHILDREN
Elizabeth Dalrymple
(1724-1809)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS FELLOW, ROYAL SOCIETY FELLOW
AWARDS
David Pitcairn (1749–1809) was a Scottish physician and a son of Major John Pitcairn, the British officer killed at Bunker Hill. After studying in Scotland and at Cambridge, David practiced in London and succeeded his uncle William at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. His teaching was credited with recognizing the connection between rheumatic fever and heart-valve disease. He became a fellow of the Royal Society and Royal College of Physicians, practicing until his death in London.
EARLY LIFE
David Pitcairn was born on May 1, 1749 in Fife, Scotland. The surviving biographical summary provides only limited evidence about childhood, schooling, and the daily circumstances of the household, so those details are not reconstructed here without documentation. What can be stated securely is that this person belonged to the interconnected family world from which HistoryGPS traces participants, relatives, and later descendants of the Revolutionary generation.
The available biographical record identifies David Pitcairn with work or public activity as a doctor. Those roles provide the clearest documented basis for including this person in the database and should be read in the political, military, professional, or household context of the period. David Pitcairn died on Apr 17, 1809 in London, England. Additional claims about employment, public service, or accomplishments have been omitted where the consulted source did not support them.
CAREER
DEATH
David Pitcairn's death is attributed to reported inflammation of the larynx. Pitcairn had frequent attacks of quinsy, and failing health, accompanied by hæmoptysis, in 1798, forced him to give up work and spend eighteen months in Portugal. After studying in Scotland and at Cambridge, David practiced in London and succeeded his uncle William at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. His teaching was credited with recognizing the connection between rheumatic fever and heart-valve disease. David Pitcairn died on Apr 17, 1809 in London, England. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
David Pitcairn, the physician (1749–1809), son of Major John Pitcairn. Editorial selections prioritize biographical coverage; five standalone biographies were not established. Collective biography, family reference, primary writings and related studies are labelled individually. Multi-volume works and series are counted as one selection.
1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography — H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (editors). [Biographical reference] Find on Amazon
2. The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Volume II: 1701 to 1800 — William Munk. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
3. The History of the Fife Pitcairns — Constance Pitcairn. [Family biographical reference] Find on Amazon
4. The History of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital — Norman Moore. [Institutional and collective medical biography; two volumes counted once] Find on Amazon
5. Lives of British Physicians — William Macmichael. [Collective medical biography; early account] Find on Amazon
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